So much for “higher” education.

Academics have condemned the University and College Union’s decision to campaign against a widely praised independent review into NHS treatment for gender-questioning children, claiming its position is “anti-scientific” and could expose researchers to harassment.

The outcry follows the unanimous vote by the UCU’s national executive committee to adopt a motion which claims that the landmark Cass Review into gender identity services for young people, published in April, “falls short of the standard of rigorous and ethical research expected of research professionals” and “provides no evidence for the ‘new approach’ it recommends”.

Which being interpreted means “we don’t like it.”

The 388-page report by Hilary Cass, a former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, has been hailed as the most extensive and thorough examination of evidence relating to medical care for gender-dysphoric children.

Well, ok, yes, extensive, and thorough, but…er…still not good enough.

[T]he UCU motion – which was remitted from the union’s congress in May due to an industrial dispute – claims the report has “serious methodological flaws” and is defined by its “selective use of evidence and promotion of unevidenced claims”.

The motion asks the union to “commit to working with trans-led organisations to resist the Cass Report recommendations”.

That stance has been criticised by several union members. On X, one academic said the union’s position was now essentially “researchers against research”, a view echoed by others, one of whom questioned the wisdom of having an “academic union campaigning against research”.

Ok look. It’s like this. It isn’t about research. It’s about commitment. It’s about loyalty. It’s about solidarity. The holy dogma that Trans People Are What They Say They Are is just that: holy dogma. No amount of research can contradict holy dogma, because research is not holy.

Using a union motion to argue against a lengthy and detailed report was also unwise, suggested Alice Sullivan, professor of sociology at UCL. “The notion that the way to counter a scientific report is to vote against it shows a total lack of comprehension of the scientific method. It is sad to see a union which is supposed to represent academics opposing evidence-based medicine,” she said.

The union has shifted from representing academics to representing adherents of a dogma. They’re a small-scale Vatican.

A UCU spokesperson said the union was “an unequivocal supporter of trans rights, a position established and repeatedly endorsed by our annual congress”.

“This motion was brought by our members after listening to concerns about the Cass report from the trans community, including LGBTQ charities such as Mermaids and Stonewall.

“Our union will proudly work with trans-led organisations to resist any recommendations that could harm young trans people and will pressure the government for an approach to trans healthcare that affirms and centres the trans community.”

There you go. They come right out and say it. Their union will ignore or trash research and simply plough ahead with “affirming” and “centering” the “trans communinny.” Scholarship is entirely beside the point.